DOHA-LONDON
Airbus A340-600

Good morning, from my desk to yours. I am just back from another outstanding trip to Southeast Asia. In my excitement to share everything that makes up air travel, I have gotten a ahead of myself and have to take a few steps back. First off, you may have noticed Planereality has moved to BoardingArea.com. BoardingArea provides a central location that allows readers access to some of the best travel blogs on the web. I am excited to be here and I hope you too discover some great travel writers you were not aware of.
Secondly, I have not shared some of the details from my last trip which included the below flight on Qatar Airways from Doha, Qatar to London’s Heathrow Airport. Unlike my flight to Doha, this flight (#1) was operated with an Airbus A340-600 which has 3 classes.  The business class seats were nearly identical to those on the 777, but do not quite lie entirely flat.  Like my other flight on Qatar, the service and food was fantastic.  Unfortunately I slept through the 2nd meal service, but woke to find a fresh bottle of Evian water and a small box of Godiva chocolates at my seat. Along with an immigration cards, flight attendants distributed passes for the expedited customs line at Heathrow.
Here are the pics:

climbing out of Doha

Doha’s new international airport

route map

cabin

seats

seat control

place setting

prawn & salmon appetizer

linguini with walnut & gorgonzola sauce

lounge

lounge

The next few posts: SkyTeam Lounge Heathrow & Delta’s “New” Lie Flat Seats. Thanks for coming by!

Qatar Airways Flight #645 Manila-Doha, Boeing 777-300ER, 9 hours

Like I said to myself when I got off the plane, I can’t speak for the world, but Qatar is my 5 star airline.  Easily one of the top 2 airlines I have flown.  Seat, food, entertainment, service…it was all there.  Within the first fifteen minutes of taking my seat, 3 flight attendants addressed me by name and introduced themselves.  One presented me with a menu in a bound leather folder.
Panjamas, amenity kits and noise cancelling headphones were each deliverd to my seat.  Then I was given (well maybe they offered and I obliged) a human size glass of champagne.  Just before pushback, breakfast orders were taken and I was served a hot towel on its own individual serving tray. How many times have you been on a flight and the flight attendants disappear shortly after meal service? Not on Qatar.  In fact, the longest time period I counted without a flight attendant checking on all of 5 passengers was about 3 minutes.  A few FA’s engaged me  in genuine converstaion.  Ready for this? I think they were making an effort to get to know their customers.

What about eating an entire airline meal you knew wasn’t very good, but you were so hungry you ate it anyway? The food on my Qatar flight was fresh, delicious and served on actaul dishes.  It appeared that as much effort was put into presentation as preperation.

Ever fallen asleep and woke up with your legs on the floor? Neraly impossible as Qatar’s 777-300ER features fully flat business class seats that provide a good amount of privacy.

Ever watched every bearable (in your eyes) movie & show available and still yearned for something else? See title.  I think every James Bond movie made was available, made that much better by true noise cancelling headphones.  Lots of breadth and depth on this entertainment system.

Towards the end of the flight, passengers were given comment cards to fill out.  There were no jet ways upon arrival in Doha, but business class passengers have a separate stair well to make their way off the plane.  At the end of the stairwell a bus took all of the business class passengers to the Premium Terminal.  Many thanks to the great crew of  QR#645 for a true 5 Star experience (and making it look effortless in the process)

check-in

gate

departing mnl

snack

somewhere

more food

amenity kit

pajamas

doha approach